"The air you breathe is God. You are breathing God in and out. Become aware of that, and stay with that awareness."- "Sadhana: A Way to God" by Anthony de Mello
For the past two days, the YC ex-co and a few others engaged in a new and deeper form of prayer - meditation and contemplation. Aunty Angela and Roy took turns to conduct exercises that explored different ways of clearing the mind; they essentially center on appreciating silence and finding God in this silence. The first exercise required us to draw away from our surroundings and be fully aware of our bodily senses. Another exercise we carried out involved focusing solely on the sounds around us and experiencing the silence in these sounds. We also attempted thought control to find ways and means of clearing distractions in our minds. Before we ended camp, we delved a little bit into the power of fantasy and how it can actually help one to acquire emotional and spiritual riches.
Learning to cultivate inner silence is important because most of us prefer to speak to God in our prayers; we are always talking and often forget to just keep quiet and Listen. Hence, only in attaining this inner silence can we put ourselves fully in the presence of God. Contemplative prayer also serves as an excellent way of getting in touch with The Source (i.e. Jeebers) and becoming spiritually rejuvanated. This constant replenishing of spiritual zeal and in general, just finding quiet personal time is so crucial for maintaining one's sanity in hectic modern-day life.
Overall, these exercises were well-received by those who went for the camp; I think all of us were open to trying something unfamiliar and benefited much from it. The retreat of course wasn't just all seriousness and no fun. Those who stayed up had a great supper feasting on hor fun, noodles etc from Hup Seng and ice cream. Needless to say, it was fun because of great great company! Yr 1s who will go through the retreat next year will definitely take away so many things from this :)
Church History Lesson 1
This lesson needs no introduction. I think everyone who was there enjoyed the skits that were put up by some of the yr 1s and ex-co members (recall: Amanda being attacked by bear-tiger Daniel, Daniel, Justin and the three female altar-servers in the coronation of Charlemagne, YC seniors as participants of the Council of Nicaea and Daniel, Justin and Amanda in the Great Schism). It was also extremely brave of Marissa and Davina to present the lesson! Two thumbs up, guys!
On A Final Note
The best of luck to yr 1s and all those having exams!
Work hard :)
No comments:
Post a Comment